Oops!
by BuggyFiction
Summary: Written for the BetterInTexas Something Wicked contest 2016. Won 3rd place. Bella's living a peaceful life in New Orleans, or is she? What is she hiding? Why is her neighbor trying to be someone he isn't?
1. Chapter 1

[incoming skype call]

Grunting, Bella dropped all of her things before answering the call and removed her jacket. "I just got in!"

Angela grinned as she watched her friend get settled in front of her computer. "You're late."

She eyed her friend while she tried to untangle her bags as she sat down. "Unlike some of us, I have a job that doesn't end when it's time for people to go home. There are meetings with parents and with other teachers and assuring mommies and daddies that yes, their child is unique and ugh," Bella grunted as she managed to pull out a large folder and plopped it onto her desk. "And when you get home, you have to find time to socialize, fix some food and check homework over."

"Where's your food?"

"Right at my fingertips," Bella replied as she opened her web browser and went to her trusty food delivery website. "So, how was your day?"

Angela shrugged. "Uneventful. The guys are out hunting, so it's just us girls tonight. Alice suggested we stayed in and watch movies, eat popcorn."

Bella could feel the bile rise in her throat. She'd been lucky to have been able to get out of Forks after Edward had dumped her in the forest and study in New Orleans. She never liked it that Angela was now hanging out with the Cullens, but Angela was stubborn and didn't listen. "Could we please not talk about them?"

"Bella," her friend sighed. "They're good people."

"You know as well as I do they're not people!"

"They mean well."

"Ange," Bella warned her friend with a low growl. She loved living in New Orleans as it meant it was going to be hard for the Cullens to pay her a visit, and she hated it that they now had Angela in their grasp. Her friend wasn't even with Edward, no, because of some weird twist of fate, Rosalie and Emmett were no longer together, and Emmett had chosen Angela to be his. She couldn't believe Rosalie was okay with it, but it was no longer Bella's problem, was it?

"Fine," Angela replied curtly. "How's the new neighbor doing?"

"Doctor Hottie?"

"Oh my god! I can't believe you call him that!"

For years, her neighbor had been Kaleb Westphall, a foreign exchange student, and they used to have a lot of fun until he went 'missing.' He'd always been a strange character, so Bella believed he had fallen into the wrong crowd for a while before Kaleb came back, looking slightly different in the way he carried himself. More confident, yet fragile.

Bella had scraped the courage together to ask him out for a night out, but when she finally managed to get a hold of him, his girlfriend was over. His girlfriend who barely looked legal. Her opinion of Kaleb had once again sunk to a new low.

And then he died.

For months, his house had been empty until this new person moved in. The first time she saw him, his clothes were covered in blood, and she assumed he was a doctor or something. Oh, she was well aware of the legends and myths of New Orleans. Of the stories about vampires and werewolves. Witches. But surely, she wasn't unlucky again, was she? She had a great life; there was no way her new neighbor could be a vampire.

Especially since he didn't sparkle in sunlight and his complexion wasn't as pale and marble-like as that of the Cullens.

"Have you spoken to him yet?" Angela pressed on, a big grin on her face. "What's he like?"

Bella blushed furiously.

"You like him!"

"No, I don't know that yet," Bella smiled as she moved her keyboard and pulled her stack of papers towards herself. "But he's hot. There's no denying that I've… fantasized."

"Naughty," Angela giggled. "Well, I'd better go. I need to make some human snacks for tonight. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

Bella tiredly rubbed her face. "Maybe. I don't know. I was thinking to go out and have some fun."

"With Doctor Hottie?"

"Goodbye, Angela," Bella smiled at her.

"Oh hey, next time, turn on the light when you answer a Skype call, okay? I want to see your face too!"

[skype call disconnected]

Realizing she hadn't gotten anything to drink yet, Bella walked to her kitchen and on her way there hit the light switches. Light was better to work with anyway. She had this beautiful kitchen with a great stove and oven and yet, since she started to work at her school five years ago, she had never once made a meal in it. It was always ordering in or eating on the go. Her fridge was tearfully empty, too, apart from a few cans of beer and a bottle of white wine.

Sighing, she grabbed herself a beer and made her way back to her desk to start grading the papers until her food would arrive.

Not ten minutes later, her doorbell rang. She was surprised because usually it would take longer for delivery. She took her purse to the door and opened it, shocked to find her neighbor standing in front of her with a big, goofy smile on his face. "You're not food."

"No, but you certainly are," he smirked widely. "I was wondering, would you like to go out with me tonight? My date canceled at the last minute, and I don't fancy being on my own."

"Sorry, I can't," Bella said as she blinked at him. "I have papers to grade if I want to go out tomorrow."

"Oh, right, you're a teacher!" He exclaimed as he took a step closer to her. "When are those papers due?"

"Next week but I don't work on the weekends so, sorry, I can't go with you. Besides, I'm waiting for my food."

"You order in a lot."

She was surprised by that. "I wasn't aware you were keeping score." Alarm bells were going off in her head. She'd moved to New Orleans to be invisible, not to be paid attention to. "And I'd like you to stop."

"How about I take you out to dinner, instead?"

"How about you mind your own business instead?" She moved to close the door, but he put something between the door and the post. "Please remove that book."

"Oh come on, have a little fun, let your hair down. Party," her neighbor said again, pushing the door open again. "I find you curious, interesting. Please? It's not as if you have anything better to do, right? You look like you could use some fun. A whole weekend of fun."

"And then what?"

"Probably go back to work with a hangover from hell, but trust me, I know the right drink to drink to fix that for you," he replied. "Go on, dress in something less teachery and meet me out front in five."

"Five minutes to make myself look less teachery? Ha, you're expecting miracles."

"Wear a dress."

"No."

"Yes."

"Screw you. Five minutes. I'll be out front."

"Dress."

"I will, but not in a dress," she kicked the book away from the door and closed it, her heart beating in her chest, as she felt the excitement. Exhilaration. Sex. Hunger. Especially hunger. Bella couldn't help but let out a tiny squee as she rushed to the bedroom with her phone in hand to call off the food delivery while she quickly scanned her closet to see what she could wear.

Her neighbor was right; a little bit of fun wouldn't hurt her and in all honesty, after Kaleb had left she hadn't had fun anymore. He was the one who coaxed her out of her teaching bubble, especially after he returned. What was the use of hiding when she wasn't hiding at all? If Alice Cullen wanted to find her, she would. Besides, it had been years and years since Edward dumped her, so she felt a little safe. Hence the teaching job.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang, showing it was Angela. "Hey Ange, miss me already?"

"Alice says to put on the outfit you tucked away in the back of your closet."

"Tell Alice to go fuck herself."

"Bella, be nice. Go out with Hottie McHotness. Wear your best."

Bella grumbled as she reached for her go-to date outfit. Yep, she had a go-to date outfit. Black skinny jeans with a sexy blouse, deep cleavage. Slightly see through. More see through if she'd wear her black bra. "If it still fits, I will."

"It will. Have fun!"

Bella tossed her phone onto her bed after Angela disconnected the call and got changed. Unfortunately - or fortunately - the outfit still fit and that meant she'd have to wear her high heels underneath it. In her mind, Bella called this her sexy Sandy outfit - like Olivia Newton John's Sandy where at the end of Grease she wears leather. This wasn't leather, but it was something she couldn't wear on a day to day basis because of her job. It needed heels.

As she'd gotten older, she had practiced walking around on heels without keeling over. Bella was an adult now, and not even her balance would stop her from wearing heels. She quickly fixed her hair and added a touch of makeup before gathering her things in a purse and sighed. She was going out with her neighbor. Why not? What could go wrong?

"You surprised me, Bella Swan," her neighbor - Kol - teased her as she met him out front. "Here I thought you'd only change a shirt, not look like sex on heels." His eyes peered right through her, it seemed, and she could feel her body heat up.

"I could change?"

"Now that would be a crime against all men," he held out his arm for her to loop through and smiled. "Come along now; we're already late for our reservation."

Bella sighed as she looped her arm through his and followed him. "So why did your date cancel?"

"Ah, I'm afraid you caught me in a little white lie," he admitted with a smile on his face. "There was no date. I only wanted to get you out of the house. And it worked."

Bella huffed.

"And I told you to wear a dress."

"I burned all my dresses years ago after moving away from Forks. My boyfriend at the time, and his family, thought it was unbecoming for a young woman to wear jeans only."

Kol huffed. "You look beautiful, I had imagined you'd look stunning in a dress, but this is much better." He then burst out in laughter. "You burnt your dresses? Aren't you a little pyromaniac!"

"It was awesome," she grinned.

"So no boyfriend then?"

"No. After my experience I wasn't ready, and when I was… well, the guy I liked had a girlfriend so…" she shrugged as she continued to allow him to lead her to wherever. "It was the man who lived in your apartment previously."

"You need to get out more," Kol snorted and shook his head. "Do you like good music?"

"I love music, although if you're going to take me to a place where they play classical shit, I might have to set you on fire."

Kol smirked. "No, it's good music. But I'll have to make a mental note to remind me not to allow you to be in the same room as my brother," he added before he cheekily grinned. "Although perhaps I should. My other brother and I would have our entertainment for the night sorted."

"Wow, how big is your family?"

"I lost count," Kol shrugged. "But I'm almost the youngest!"

"That's not an answer."

"Indeed it is not," he replied with a nod. "I shall be taking you to St. James' Infirmary, ever went there?"

"No, what is it?" Bella was curious now. She'd been in New Orleans for years but hadn't ever heard her co-workers mention that place.

"The story is that it's a haven for all kinds of people," Kol said nonchalantly. "No magic can harm them there, nor can magic be used to find them there."

"Magic?" Bella snorted. "Are you serious?"

"This is New Orleans, darling; there are supernatural creatures everywhere!"

"Yeah right," she huffed. "Next thing you're going to tell me is that werewolves are real and look like show ponies with a lot of fur."

"That sounds a lot like ordinary shapeshifters, not like werewolves."

She huffed. "I love the history of New Orleans and all, but magic isn't real. It's something that grew out of stories, folklore, to keep people entertained and in check. Much like the whole Dracula thing with vampires. He wasn't even a proper vampire because in the books he doesn't sparkle in the sun like little faeries, but instead turn into a lit match."

Kol burst out in uncontrollable laughter for quite some time as they turned a few corners. "Oh, that's… golden, Bella. You should meet my brother; he'll find you just as darling as I do!"

She was now going to regret her decision to go out with Kol. He was nuts. Certifiable. His swing from seriousness to absolute insanity reminded her a lot of Kaleb after he went missing, but this was even worse. "You'd better feed me soon, or I'll turn into a gremlin."

"Get ready for an evening of good Jazz music and good food and drinks," he smirked as he turned another corner and led her into the infirmary.

The bar was decorated much like anything else in the city at the moment; full blown Halloween decorations, the cheesiest of cheese. It was almost as if they had gone to the cheapest store there was and bought everything in sight only to plaster it around to have a sense of normalcy or whatever.

"So… how legitimate is this bar?" Bella questioned as Kol led her to a table and pulled out a chair for her. The bar looked like something Charlie had warned her about on many occasions.

"What do you mean?"

She eyed the other people in the bar before looking back at Kol. "If one of the patrons decide to stab me, would you keep me safe?"

Kol chuckled darkly. "You're quite safe here, Bella Swan, you have nothing to worry about."

She cocked her head at that. Granted, she had noticed similarities before, but there weren't a lot of people who spoke like Kol just had. Kaleb had been guilty of the same thing. It was curious Kol was doing the same thing. However, it wasn't that surprising as, like Kaleb, Kol had a British accent as well. Maybe they went to the same school together or something. But there were no such thing as coincidences, were there?

Kol ordered them something to drink, and she listened while he talked. He figured a proper introduction was long overdue, but much of what he told her were words she had already heard a while ago from a different mouth. What the hell was going on? By the time Kol was finished, Bella's glass was still full. She had taken a sip but it tasted horrible, and she wondered if he took her to this dive on purpose, to scare her off.

His behavior earlier certainly should have scared her off.

"You're a liar," she pointed out as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "You think I don't notice that you're trying to steal the life of a friend of mine?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you a criminal? Or are you running from something, someone? Are you that desperate to start a new life that you choose that of a dead man and even moved into his apartment to make sure you won't be found?" Bella questioned him. "You're hot and all, but I don't like to be friends with people who lie to my face, knowing full well that I will catch them in the act."

Kol merely smirked when the waitress came over to hand them a menu, his eyes never leaving Bella's face.

"Be honest with me," she demanded after handing back the waitress and giving her order. "Or I'm going to walk right out that door."

"And then what, darling? Go to the police?"

"No, preferably packing my bags and move somewhere else, even if it means I'm losing my job over it. I've dealt with enough douchebags to last me a lifetime."

"That's your thing, isn't it?" Kol asked amused, his head now resting on his hand as he leaned on the table. "Running. Why did you move to New Orleans? Of all the places in the world you could have chosen to run to, why here?"

"You call it running; I call it distancing myself."

"But why, though?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because," he smiled at her. "I find you a curious little creature. You're observant and you think you're excellent at hiding things but honestly darling, you're not."

Bella narrowed her eyes at him and thought for a moment before she got to her feet and grabbed her bag. "That's it; I'm out."

"Running away again." Kol was next to her in a blink of an eye, pushing up the sleeve of her arm, revealing the scar that remained after James had bit her. "You're accusing me of lying, but here you are, pretending the supernatural doesn't exist. You've encountered the Cold Ones."

"Let go of me," she said as she tried to pull her arm back. Kol was dangerously close now and even though she should be scared, it aroused her. Her own body was betraying her.

"You've obviously encountered the shapeshifters of the Quileute tribe; otherwise you wouldn't have specifically mentioned werewolves the size of horses," Kol didn't let go of her, only pulling her back in. "Here in New Orleans you're surrounded by the supernatural, and you choose to ignore it. It was the truth when I said this place is a safe place, that magic can't harm you here and all magical effects cease to exist. I brought you here to see if that bloody mental shield of yours would stop working but it didn't!"

While Kol had been spot on about the Cold Ones and the wolves, and her shield thing she didn't quite understand herself, she couldn't help but bark out a laugh. "Happy Halloween! Good job, Kol, you've managed to scare me, now let go of me."

"I need you to hear me out, please," he didn't sound as if he was begging, it was more of a command and Bella didn't like that at all. "I never do this sort of thing, okay? I usually don't care about what happens to people around me, but you need to hear me out."

"Let go," Bella repeated as her hand slipped into her bag to grab the can of mace Charlie made her carry. "I'm not going to say it again."

"Five minutes."

She grumbled as her phone rang and took it out of her bag instead of the mace. She wasn't all too happy seeing the name on her screen but decided to take it anyway. "Hold that thought," she told Kol before picking up the phone. "This is not an ideal time," she greeted the person on the other end of the phone.

"I figured as much with my wife frantically calling me to give you a call, knowing you wouldn't answer if she did," Jasper drawled. "She's freaking out because she doesn't know where you are."

"That's kinda the point of trying not to talk to you guys. I've been successful for the last few years, why all the attention now?"

"You're in New Orleans, the safest place you can be with the Volturi still after you."

Bella stayed silent. Of course, they knew where she was. Bella'd never be completely free of them. She knew she hadn't informed Angela where she was, either. She hadn't given her an address and even Charlie didn't know. He had an address in New York from where someone would send it somewhere else, and so on and so on - should he feel the need to send her a card, but he hadn't sent her anything.

Her computer had been set up with anonymous surfing, anonymous email addresses and the only way the Cullens would know she was in New Orleans was because of Alice. Alice knew all along where she was.

"So, my question is, where are you?"

"At a bar."

"A werewolf bar?"

"No," she scoffed as she looked around and shrugged. "Normal people, no furries around, why? You feel kinky again, Jazz?" Bella fought back a grin when she saw Kol's surprised face. "Because there's an amazing zoo around here with a load of those."

"This isn't a time to joke around, Bella," Jasper scolded her. "I want you to be safe. The only reason why I haven't come to find you yet is because you're in New Orleans. You're safe there. The Volturi won't come into Mikaelson territory."

"I can't believe they're holding a grudge for so long."

"It's the rules. You know that. If you're at a bar, you must be at St. James' Infirmary. I've heard they protected it against all magic a year ago or something. Who are you with?"

Bella looked at Kol, he had now let go of her and was enjoying his drink in his seat, occasionally glancing over his shoulder as if he was waiting for their food to arrive or something. "My neighbor," she replied before realizing what Jasper had said earlier. "What do you mean by Mikaelson territory?" Bella sat down in her own chair and kept her eyes firmly fixed on Kol as she listened to Jasper.

"They're the oldest vampires of their kind. They appear human and burn in the sun. Some wear special rings to allow them to walk in the daylight. I suppose they're closer to the fiction books about vampires than we are; I believe they're even responsible for a few of them," Jasper explained. "In any case, they're just as powerful as the Volturi, these Mikaelsons. Perhaps they hold even more power, but despite them living out in the open, most of their private life is just that. Even I don't know the extent of their wealth or reach."

"You know them?"

"My path may have crossed one of theirs, yes. But if anything, you'll be safe in New Orleans."

"What if I want to move?"

"Why?"

"Humor me."

She could hear Jasper suck in a breath on the phone. It was funny; vampires didn't need oxygen. "You'd be dead within the year. Dead or turned. Or turned and then painfully destroyed."

"Oh, great," Bella said sarcastically, rolling her eyes, wondering why Kol had that stupid smirk on his face.

"Well, you could move, of course," Jasper replied lightly. "This idea would piss off Edward, but if possible, you could find one of the Mikaelsons and befriend them. Rumor is they love their damsels in distress."

"Screw you, Jazz."

Jasper laughed. "Avoid Elijah, he's a stick in the mud and perhaps holds more darkness than his two younger brothers combined."

Kol and someone at the bar burst out in laughter, nearly choking on their drinks. "Hey, Jazz, my neighbor is called Kol Mikaelson, he one of them?"

It was quiet for a long time on the other end of the line. "If he's taken you to that bar, something's wrong."

"He is?"

"Yes," Jasper replied and sighed. "Oh, darlin', you go from one extreme to the next, aren't you?"

"Fuck me," Bella muttered.

"Name the time and place," Kol grinned and winked at her. "Is that the Major? Tell him I said hi. Ask him if he killed his adoptive brother Edward yet, he was such a prick."

"Yeah well, get in line," Bella shot at Kol before sighing. "Thanks, Jazz, this has been real informative."

"Be careful."

"Seems like I'm in the lion's den anyway, so we'll see. Happy hunting." She disconnected the call and narrowed her eyes on Kol. "So you're a vampire."

"And I was right about you running with Cold Ones," Kol smugly replied, seemingly very full of himself. "Edward Cullen? Really?"

"Misspent youth," she replied. "Start talking."

"First things first;" Kol smirked. "Just by ignoring things, doesn't mean it goes away. For example, Kaleb was a practicing witch. I was dead, and my mother put me in his body. It was then when I found myself immensely fascinated by you."

"Why?"

"You were trying too hard to ignore strange things, darling," he explained. "I thought it funny to use magic to complicate your day by changing little things on your way to work and you simply brushed it off. For example; upon leaving your house, you wore the same shoes, but upon arriving to work, you wore two different pairs. You just shrugged it off! It was hilarious!"

"Wait, that can happen? People in different people? Magic?"

"You run with the Cold Ones and the Quileute wolves, and you think magic is not possible?"

Bella was quiet for a moment as she watched him finish his drink. "So it's your fault Kaleb is dead?"

"No. That was my brother Finn's fault by putting a hex on me. I couldn't leave Kaleb's body anymore, and then the bastard cursed me to die."

"But you're back again."

"Magic," he replied before grabbing her wrist again and rubbed his thumb over her scar. "How did you survive the bite of a Cold One without turning?"

"We were talking about your life, Kol. You were going to explain to me what the hell is going on," Bella said as she pulled her wrist back and made another attempt at taking a sip of her drink but found it tasted still horrible.

"Would you like something else to drink, perhaps, if this is not to your liking? A Bloody Mary?"

Bella felt her face heat up as a blush crept up her cheeks. "I didn't want to be rude; I thought if their drinks were this bad, what would the food be like?" A Bloody Mary sounded good right about now.

He smirked and nodded to his friend at the bar. "It'll be arranged then. Now, back to business. I have to admit, my time with you as Kaleb had tickled me in a funny spot and I wanted to try to see how you'd react if I'd feed you some of my blood."

"What!"

"Don't worry darling, you didn't taste it; otherwise you wouldn't have kept ordering take out."

She blinked at him. "Wait, what?"

"My brother Niklaus told me I was playing with fire, of course, but I've never allowed curiosity and his opinions stop me," he sighed and shrugged. "Much to my chagrin, it didn't have any effect on you, but still, I kept dosing you a little at a time."

"I don't understand… you don't have venom?"

"We're not snakes like the Cold Ones. We're human… mostly. We bleed. We drink coffee to feel warm to the touch. We have a diet of blood, human blood, but we can eat and drink whatever we wish. The taste of food is even better as a vampire because all senses get enhanced. I, for one, never bothered with self-control while snacking on humans, but it can be controlled."

"You're not getting my blood."

"I didn't take you out to dinner to ask you for your blood, darling, if I wanted it, I would have taken it!" Kol said furiously. "Have I ever done something to hurt you? Have I hurt you in any way? No, I have not. To blatantly assume I'd take your blood after confessing my control is non-existent is rude."

"I'm sorry," she muttered.

"You should be," he retorted angrily and watched as the waiter set down the cocktail in front of her. "Now, before you take that drink, I want you to answer two questions for me," he said as he placed his hand over it. "How much trouble are you in with those blasted Volturi?"

"Humans aren't supposed to know about the existence of the Cold Ones, or their laws. It's either turn or death, but there's no way in hell I'm going to turn into a walking disco ball. Death seems a little extreme, too, so I don't know, maybe I'll run for the rest of my life."

"Or stay in New Orleans where it's safe from them."

"Because of your family."

"Yes."

Bella huffed. "I don't want to end up as a protected human yet again, Kol. I also don't want to stick around because I could get hurt. That's what you get from running with vampires. You always get hurt."

"Traffic accidents could end your life, too. They happen every day."

"At least I'd be human."

He still had his hand covering her drink and shrugged. "Do you believe in second chances? For example, what if something would happen to someone you believe deserves a second chance because either someone screwed up or because their presence makes a difference somewhere?"

"I guess?"

"Our mother cursed us when she turned us into immortal beings, but it also gifted us with a long life. A life where we can do whatever we wish, travel, gather knowledge about just about anything. The first time I died, I died because some fledgeling idiot hunter stabbed me with the one thing that could kill me. I died trying to prevent the end of the world. When mother put me in a human body, I loved the second chance as a witch. Now that I'm back yet again after dying, I'm living my third chance."

"Something in this world doesn't want you out of it, then."

"That, and some witches can be quite persistent," Kol laughed as he removed his hand from her glass. "If you'd die today - not by my hand, would you want a second chance?"

Bella thought about it. Would she want a second chance? If she'd die today, did she have any unfinished business? "If I would get a second chance, it still wouldn't solve my problem with the immortal Volturi."

"No, but let's assume you'll come out stronger with your second chance. You'd be able to take them on, head on, and my family and I will support you with your fight."

"You mean turning me into a vampire?"

Kol smiled at that as he watched her take a sip of her drink. "Live longer, amass your own little seat of power. Nobody would ever hurt you again, or come for you because they'll know you'll be stronger. And, you'd get a second chance at life. A lot of vampires are teachers or work in law enforcement. They valued that work as a human and continued their work as a vampire."

"But how? If you don't sparkle in the sun, you burn."

"That's easily fixed, you've seen me out and about in daylight, so why wouldn't I grant you the same?"

"And I could still do my job as a teacher?"

"I don't understand why you like teaching those illiterate brats, but yes."

"Sounds reasonable," she slowly nodded. "Would I have complete freedom as well? Don't get me wrong, Kol, but I once thought I wanted to be a vampire, a Cold One, until the rules made it too restrictive."

"The only rule here in New Orleans is is to be discrete when you feed and perhaps kill. That's all."

"And what if I don't want to drink from a human?"

"There's such a thing called a blood bank. Nifty invention over the last few decades, they have freshly tapped human blood in the refrigerator!"

"Okay," she replied after having downed her drink. It had tasted so good; she wanted more. On top of that, where was their food? Did the cow still need to be slaughtered or something? "But you can only turn me when I'm on the verge of death, deal?"

He got off his chair and squatted down next to her as he took her hands. "Darling, I still have to figure out how it's possible you don't remember, but last night you didn't come home. There was an accident with an out of control street car a little after you left work. It derailed and went tumbling down the road, taking everything in its path along for the tumble." Kol searched her face for some recognition, but there wasn't any. "You were in its path, along with several cars and lorries. You died on impact. My brother Niklaus and I found you this morning, and you were groggy, a little bit dizzy, but you were adamant you were late for work, not recognizing me. We cleaned you up and allowed you to go on your merry way as you seemed alright."

"I don't remember."

"You died, Bella. I wasn't aware of that before, but when I saw you come home for dinner today, I felt you were in transition. Because I've been dosing you with my blood all this time, you were transitioning into a vampire, and I took you here to make sure the last few hours you had left wouldn't be spent in agony." He smiled at her then. "I'm still shocked you went to work like that."

She felt the blood drain out of her face. "That Bloody Mary wasn't alcohol."

"No, darling, it was human blood with a celery stick and a tiny cute umbrella," he kissed the top of her hand. "You got your second chance, and it's alright to be scared. I'm here for you. You're my responsibility, and I will teach you everything you need to know."

"Well shit, I nearly died a virgin," she muttered.

"You're taking the news of your death very well."

"What choice is there?" Bella glared at him. "Complain about it? Whine about it? Be angry with you for your 'curiosity' and unknowingly feeding me your blood? No, it happened. Can't change it."

"I say you're a welcome addition," another voice sounded, and Bella looked up to see the man who had been sitting at the bar previously. "I couldn't think of anyone better to be my brother's first sireling after his rebirth."

"Ew," Bella shuddered. "That's just gross."

"Bella, meet my brother Niklaus."

"Klaus."

"Nice to meet you," Bella said before looking up at Kol. "Where's our food? We ordered, didn't we? I'm hungry."

"Mary's still in the kitchen, love, help yourself," Klaus said amused as he watched Bella head straight for the kitchen. "You've done well, brother."

"She's my responsibility, Nik, I swear."

Klaus pat his brother on the back. "You'll do fine. She seems to be a natural at being a vampire. Very at ease. Dangerous." He then smiled widely at him. "Precisely what you need. Why won't you join her for a nibble and then fulfill one of her wishes? It is likely she'd want to pay a visit to those blasted Cullens and castrate one of them."

"Oh, so much fun to be had," Kol grinned. "Are you sure?"

"Elijah forged the live and let live agreement with them, but they're even bigger monsters than we are. What's the harm in killing the golden son? He hurt your new toy, didn't he?"

"What about the Volturi?"

"We'll deal with them if they wish to retaliate. It should be a glorious battle should they decide to do so," Klaus playfully said before pushing his brother towards the kitchen. "Have some fun, brother, you deserve it."

By the time Kol entered the kitchen, Bella had already her teeth deep in Mary's neck, and there wasn't a lot of life left inside of the human. "Bella, you don't need to kill to feed if you don't want to."

Bella's eyes flicked up to meet his before she let out a low growl and pulled Mary closer to her.

"As you wish, darling," he said amused, throwing his hands up in the air. "Happy Halloween!"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So much fun! After reading Oops! and watching me write this, Meekobb decided to write her own spin on what should happen next in Oops! She just posted it to her ffnet account so go check it out!

And surprise! I have more Oops! for you too!

* * *

Bella had told him that she wanted some time alone, by herself, and Kol granted her as much space as needed while keeping an eye on her. She was adamant that she continued her teaching job and he made sure that she had a daylight ring to walk in the sunshine, allow her to walk amongst the humans.

For a new vampire, she had excellent control over her bloodlust and Kol envied her. He had never bothered to control himself like that, but she was managing. During the times that she was at work, he snuck into her house and filled her fridge with blood bags. She didn't like that, it was often that he came back to his own house and find that she had pushed dog shit through his mailbox, and normally someone would get really angry about that, but he found himself incredibly amused. He had gotten to know her as an independent young woman, but he never knew she had a bit of a mean streak. It was refreshing.

While Niklaus had given him the benefit of doubt in making sure that Bella would be a balanced vampire, Elijah had been against it; mainly because in his mind, Kol was still the irresponsible and imbalanced younger sibling who was worse than Niklaus. It infuriated him that his brother thought Kol hadn't changed. That he was incapable of change. But Kol would show him. Prove himself. Over and over again.

It was during one of their heated Thanksgiving arguments when Bella texted him. He had invited her over, of course, but she said she had plans. She hadn't elaborated, just said that she had plans and that was it.

 _Are you free?_

It was the weirdest text ever. Of course he was free. _Free to do what? It's the usual family Thanksgiving dinner. My sister is yelling at my brother, I'm yelling at the other brother and we're all yelling at each other. Perhaps by midnight I'll be resting uncomfortably in my coffin._

 _Not free then?_

There was something insisting in those words, something desperate. He could feel it. _What's wrong?_

 _My Thanksgiving usually consists of drinking so much I can't see straight for reasons. I realized I need more booze now that I'm turned and I got hungry._

Kol let out a small chuckle as he politely excused himself from the fight with his siblings to somewhere more quiet. _Okay?_

 _I need you to come to Rousseau's, I'm holding everyone in this bar hostage. I need you to compel them to forget what they saw._

Alarm bells went off in his head. Rousseau's was Nik's former lover's bar, owned by Nik now. It was in the middle of the French Quarter and people were out to party. Lone souls, much like Bella herself. What had she gotten herself into? _What happened?_

 _I got hungry. How do you discreetly get rid of a couple of bodies?_

Kol groaned as he set off for Rousseau's, and lo and behold, Bella was keeping everyone inside amidst a small pile of dead bodies that she had dropped. "That wasn't just hunger, darling," he said as he pushed the door open. He felt disappointed. Kol had believed that she could control herself.

"No, some of it was anger," she said playfully. "They tried to stop me when I fed on the bartender so I killed them and it feels bad, I've never killed anyone but it also feels so good!"

"Go home, you're drunk."

She paused, then. "I killed people," her voice was barely a whisper as she looked at the humans she'd been holding hostage. Every single one of them having the look of terror frozen on their faces before she looked at the little heap of humans. She'd simply broken their necks, but it looked so bad. So bad. "Can we bring them back?"

"No, darling, they're dead."

"I honestly didn't mean to!"

Kol noticed that there were dangerous tears behind those eyes of her and he didn't want her to fall apart right there, it would only complicate things. "I know, Bella," he tenderly said. "Why won't you go home? I'll come to you as soon as I'm done and we'll talk about this."

"What if those people were parents of the kids I teach?"

"Go home, you're going to be fine."

"Promise?"

"Yes, now go," he smiled at her before making sure she left the bar. Kol then got to work. He compelled every living soul in that bar and choose the strongest looking males to help him discard the bodies. Some of the weaker ones were told to clean up. It took longer than he had hoped, but Bella had really made a mess out of it. Unexpectedly. Oh, he knew he wasn't going to fool any vampire that would set foot in Rousseau's after the clean up, not even after a good wash with alcohol, but Nik would appreciate the effort.

When he arrived at Bella's, she had seemed to have calmed down somewhat as she was drinking from a bottle of wine. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

"Not a huge Thanksgiving person, are you?" Kol chuckled as he sat down on the sofa next to her. "Why's that?"

Bella shrugged. "I don't see the point of it. Now, Christmas… is something else. But Thanksgiving is just an excuse for me to go out and drink. A lot. And this time… I fucked up."

"It's not your fault, darling," Kol gently rubbed her back as he watched her take another swig of her wine. "We have a huge tolerance for alcohol, so you really did your best in getting drunk," he smiled at her. "Well done."

"I killed people today. Not for feeding, but because they wanted to stop me from doing so. What if I kill my children because I can't fight the hunger?"

"You only lost control because you're shitfaced, it's fine, we've all been there."

Bella huffed as she put her head on his shoulder and took another sip of her wine. "Can you make me forget?"

"Why? You're a vampire now, you're supposed to kill people. They're your food."

She looked up to him and sighed. "I killed innocent people without feeding from them. Snapped their little necks as if they're twigs. I should be in jail."

"And then what? Starve to death?"

Bella was quiet then before nodding. "You're right. I shouldn't have drunk that much. I shouldn't have gone out, period. I'm still learning and I'm still new at this."

"And when you're not drinking, you have excellent control and that is fantastic," he smiled at her. "Very impressive."

She looked up to him with big, sad eyes. Whatever was bothering her, he'll get to know eventually. "Really?"

"Truly," Kol took the bottle out of her hands and set it on the table. "Now, what can I do to make you feel better?"

She smiled at him then, as her hand moved over his leg towards his groin. "Well… I have an idea… You're handsome and I'm adorable…" When she reached his cock, she gave it a gentle squeeze over the fabric of his pants and he sucked in a breath. "You're packing…"

Oh, he was likely going to regret this, but he was a sucker for temptation. She was so flattering and it wasn't his fault that she instigated sex. He earned it, after what he'd done for her. And if she needed this, then he was more than happy to oblige.

Clothes were torn, tables broken, lips clashed before ending up on top of her kitchen island and bodies sliding and crashing into each other while hands desperately clawed at the other's skin. She was loud, letting go of all the hurt and pain and sadness that she felt.

Round two involved crashing into her bedroom door, making them all fall on the floor and ending it there as she came again, nearly screaming his name as she tumbled over the edge and took him with her.

Round three was non-existent. She had him drink a glass of wine in the midst of all the debris and she promptly fell asleep on the sofa, her head in his lap. Snoring, loudly. A lady she was not.

He carried her to her bed and tucked her in before going home.

There was no poop in his mailbox after he'd replenished her blood supply over the next few weeks. Kol wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing because he kinda liked the attention. He was stupid to think that the excrement was a mirror of Bella's feelings or something, but she left him alone.

She usually replied to his texts when he was checking in on her, but it didn't appear that she was looking for company. A shame, really. They hadn't really talked after what had happened on Thanksgiving. Not that he needed to talk about it, or wanted to talk it, but it had been awesome. And he knew that she had kind of a crush on Kaleb, even when he was inside of him, but that Davina got in the way. Bella was far more exciting than Davina, in Kol's opinion, despite Davina being a witch.

He knew he was a catch, so was she, but was she aware of what she was missing?

Nik had him out of town for a couple of weeks. His brother had one of his 'brilliant ideas' and had Kol hunt down some artifact of which Kol was certain didn't exist anymore. He needed to get out of New Orleans for a while anyway.

Bella was doing fine and Davina was hating him so that was great. He wasn't quite sure what happened between him and Davina, but it was likely that she didn't like him anymore now that he was a vampire. It had taken her long enough, months, even, to realize that he was a dick.

On the way back his travels took him through the state of Washington and he couldn't help but to harass the local Cold One population there. Cold Ones were dicks, especially these. The Major ran with them, but Kol figured the rest of them were a source of Bella's anger. He'd happily take them all out, but he wasn't much of a fighter. Sure, he could fight, but his brothers were more the warriors.

So when he found himself dangling a few feet from the ground after having been picked up by the big, burly Cold One called Emmett - apparently Kol had killed the vampire's mate - he wasn't quite sure how to get out of this pickle. Kol couldn't die, sure, but there were many ways that this guy could hurt him, he was certainly holding him with a vice like grip. "Listen, I'm just trying to make a friend feel better… it's a misunderstanding, really."

"You're one of those Originals, aren't you?" the Cold One growled as he shook Kol as if he was a leaf. "Which means I can't kill you even after you've killed my Rosalie," he snarled as he kept holding Kol by the neck, making him wiggle like a fish on dry land. "What to do with you!"

"Emmett, that's quite enough," a smooth, velvety voice sounded. Kol knew this to be Carlisle Cullen, the leader of the coven. "It's one of the youngest Originals, you'll have to forgive him for being so brazen."

"He killed Rosalie, Carlisle."

"I'm sure that his siblings will make sure that he pays, now, let go of him," he said patronizingly. "Because I'm fairly certain that he'll find a way to get loose and kill you too."

Emmett grunted as he squeezed Kol's neck until he heard a bone snap and dropped him to the ground. "Fine, but I'm going to get my revenge one way or another!"

"Of course," Carlisle smiled at him and pat him on the shoulder. "I am so sorry for Rosalie, Emmett," he continued before pulling Kol back onto his feet and put an arm around him. "Come, let's have a chat."

"I'm not interested in a chat," Kol said with a raspy voice as he rubbed his hand over his neck. "I'm interested in you lot leaving my friend alone."

Carlisle chuckled softly. "She has no idea that you're here, does she?"

"No, she doesn't and she doesn't need to know. The constant reminder of you lot still being here haunts her and she can't have that if she wants to move on with her life."

"But we've been leaving her alone, young Mikaelson," Carlisle replied kindly. "She's been in contact with the latest member of our family, Angela, but she and Bella have been friends for quite some time now. And I believe that Jasper calls her on occasion. Other than that, we've been leaving Bella to herself. We know that she's safe in New Orleans under your protection."

"It's not enough. I'm fearing that she has a knack for self destruction and with you still here, present and likely going to collect her, it'll only do her more harm than good."

"She has nothing to fear from us," Carlisle replied as he continued to lead him away from the rest of his family. "The Volturi are after her. We're fine with her knowing about us and not having turned, the Volturi are not. It's the law and rules."

"Then I shall kill them, too."

"How about you kill them instead?" Carlisle suggested. "And once we do something that will prove to you that we are, indeed, hurtful towards Bella, you can come after us."

Kol was getting agitated now. "How about I kill you now and get it over with?"

"Would Bella want that?"

"I don't care what she wants, in the long run, this will be for her best interest."

Carlisle smiled, then. "Many years ago, I ran into your brother Elijah. We agreed that we didn't see the world the same way and we also understood that your kind could easily kill mine. We agreed that we wouldn't be in each other's way, much like the treaty my family has with the shifter wolves here. Now, the look on your face tells me that you have no knowledge of this agreement, so I shall forgive you for killing Rosalie."

"Forgive me?" Kol huffed. "Please. Fight me so I have a reason to kill you."

"I shall leave your punishment to your brothers. Go home, young Mikaelson. The next time I won't be this kind," Carlisle pushed him over the treaty border on to wolf territory. "But I shall give your brothers a call about this incident."

Kol felt like he was in high school and his teacher was mad at him for something. Huffing, he felt at least somewhat accomplished by killing this Rosalie, he hoped that it would make Bella feel better and more at ease, knowing that he could protect her, that his brothers could protect her; that perhaps even she could kill a Cold One when needed.

Oh, wouldn't that be great? Teaching Bella how to fight, use her powers properly? Would she wear tight fitting outfits? He could make that mandatory! Grinning, he went deeper into Quileute land to meet with the latest chief, Jacob Black, to request access to their shaman for Nik's stupid trinket. And maybe request that they keep a closer eye on the Cullens, seeing as they turned a human - Bella's friend - and that was against their treaty, wasn't it?

Funny enough, he did receive a verbal ear bashing from Niklaus over the phone, but by the time Kol arrived back in New Orleans, his brother wasn't that angry with him anymore. He even apologized for it for some reason. Kol had half expected to run into a dagger at that point, but since he was in the clear, he could tell his brother that Kol had been right the first time, that whatever Nik was looking for had been destroyed and that he'd been sent on a wild goose chase.

Even that didn't earn him a dagger.

Perhaps Nik was getting sentimental in his old age. Elijah was huffing and puffing about Kol having killed a 'friendly' Cold One, but Nik was protecting him. Why?

While they were having dinner with the family, Kol kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was close to Christmas now, surely there wasn't a Christmas dagger with his name on it?

"What's this elephant in the room?" Kol asked as the servants were taking away their empty plates and glasses. "You have been eyeing each other quietly and barely conversed. Something is wrong," he then let out a slight chuckle. "Because usually my deeds of the last few weeks would have earned me a dagger to the heart."

Klaus hesitated but eventually spoke up, knowing that Kol was likely going to combust if he didn't speak up. "It's Bella."

Shit. Blinking, he feared the worst. "She's not dead, is she?"

"She's not dead," Klaus echoed, Elijah slowly nodded in agreement. "However…"

Elijah took a sip of his tea and swallowed it quickly to interrupt Klaus. "She's your responsibility, Kol. You should have taken her with you on your quest for Niklaus." He and Niklaus did not have any blame in this. None whatsoever. As long as that was clear.

"Don't blame him, Elijah," Klaus warned his older brother. "The girl has a job that she loves, of course he wouldn't take her away from what she loves."

Kol slammed the table with his fist, causing the cutlery and the dishes to clang together as they launched from the table. "What did you do?"

"Well, we kept an eye on her, as you requested, of course," Klaus explained as he eyed the fallen plates on the floor, not daring to look Kol in the eye. "She seemed to know that we were and asked a witch to cast a spell to hide her from us. Not even Freya can find her."

"What are you saying?"

"We have no idea where she is."

"She's your responsibility, Kol. Not ours." Elijah reminded him.

"Elijah, I swear…" Kol threatened his brother as he got to his feet. "You are unbelievable," he spat. "You ask me to do things all the time and I do them to the best of my abilities and I ask you to look after one new vampire and you lose her? The mighty Niklaus and Elijah Mikaelson have trouble dealing with one vampire?"

"Well, truth be told, we were occupied by having to deal with the looming threat of the Volturi coming here because of your vampire…"

"That's complete and utter bollocks," Kol spat as he ran out to see if Bella had come home. He was used to being seen as the family disappointment, as the happy homicidal maniac, as nothing more than the menace, but despite it all, he always did as what was asked of him. Was it that hard to return the favor?

She wasn't home, but her phone was and it told him that her work had called several times. Things were rotting in her dustbin and her bed was still made. Spoiled blood was in her fridge. It was clear that Bella hadn't been home in a while. Likely the same week he went off to prove Niklaus' artifact didn't exist anymore. Damnit. He thought she'd been stable enough for him to leave her, but it was apparent that he'd been wrong.

Bella had a habit of running away whenever being confronted with something so he hoped that she hadn't run out of New Orleans. Asking a witch - and a powerful one at that if Freya couldn't break the spell - to cloak her was new, but not surprising. Bella was smart. She knew how to survive. But he truly hoped she hadn't left New Orleans because spelled or not, the Volturi would find a way to find her.

Kol hoped he was the first one to find her, though.

He went through her browsing history on her laptop and hated what he found. He couldn't believe his eyes. Vampire fetish websites mostly, simple humans wanting to be fed upon by a vampire, but the few search results that he found that were not that, disturbed him greatly. It appeared that she had found the dark pits of vampire society, those where the nightwalkers from his brother spent their days; drunk and high and horny with the help from some herbs that some witches supplied them with.

Impure things.

He liked it.

Oh, Kol didn't deny that he, too, spent many hours in a vampire den at some point in his travels and his existence, but he never fancied Bella to be someone to do such a thing. Then again, Bella was no innocent and she was a troubled soul. Who wouldn't be after what she'd been through?

The Volturi were still planning on going after her, perhaps they should send them a letter telling them she'd turned? Or wouldn't that matter? Would she be destroyed instead, seeing as she didn't turn into a Cold One?

And maybe, those exact thoughts had lead her to find an escape into the arms of needy and pathetic vampires who deserved only to walk by night.

It didn't take him long to find her. There was a place at the Harbor that he knew of and it was a perfect hide out. It was still in New Orleans and there was enough land to run away or derelict buildings to hide in. It wasn't easy to get into the place, he was fortunate enough to be an Original and could compel these losers, but how on earth had Bella managed to get in? Loser vampires or not, they still had their own set of rules, laws, even, and as long as they stayed out of trouble, his family wouldn't bother with shutting them down because even shitty nightwalkers were allowed to have fun.

After gaining access, he could see why she was allowed entrance. In the dimly lit space there was a giant table and Bella was splayed out over it, blissfully unaware of Kol's presence. She was naked and one of the mutts was eating her out. It looked extremely hot, especially how in her high state her body arched whenever a wave of pleasure hit her body. In the crowded room, where everyone was watching the show, he could hear her little noises as the vampire between her legs did everything in his power to make her scream out in delight.

And all he wanted was to be a possessive asshole and tear that vampire to shreds before giving Bella something to wear as he brought her home to come back to her senses.

Kol counted til ten and took a deep breath. He inhaled the smell of the herbs and alcohol, but they were laced with sex. Bella's amazing scent of sex, and he lost it. Grabbing the nearest blanket, he threw it over her as he yanked the vampire away from her - the mutt was lucky that Kol didn't kill him - before throwing Bella over his shoulder and ran her home.

"What are you doing?" Bella whined as Kol dropped her onto her bed. "I don't want to be here."

"Oh, you're going to be here, and I'm going to make sure that you stay until the effects of whatever you've been taking wear off," he said sternly as he tucked her into bed. "And then, you and I are going to have a chat."

"Fuck you."

"Don't make me compel you."

Bella let out a snort as she rolled to her side. "You can't."

"Sleep it off. Then we'll talk."

While Bella was asleep, he popped over to his house to get a few fresh blood bags and threw out her old stuff. He wasn't going to leave her alone. Not again. Kol had a pretty good idea what was going on and he intended to fix it. No more from a distance stuff, he was going to do this hands on and he knew what he had to do to fix this for her.

He woke up to the sound of the shower being turned on and started to make coffee and poured Bella a glass of blood for when she was done. Kol heard some angry noises coming from her bedroom as she got dressed and handed her her glass of blood the moment she came out. "I fucking hate you," she growled as she sat down like a petulant child. "Why couldn't you have left me there?"

"Why are you squandering your second chance in life, Bella?" he retorted. "I saved your life and you're wasting it by hanging out with those losers? Why?"

"Because maybe that was the biggest mistake ever? Giving me a second chance?" Bella retorted as she knocked back her glass of blood and set it on the table. "The Volturi will still come for me and I wanted to have fun for as long as possible. Fun, that you interrupted!"

"Bella, be reasonable," Kol replied as he eyed her. "You've always been under threat of the Volturi, what has changed? Why are you so afraid now?"

"Just leave me alone, you made a mistake by turning me."

"You're certainly trying my patience, Bella Swan. I know you're masking your problems, you can pretend you're fine for a while until you break. Well, you've hit rock bottom now so you'd better talk so I can help you."

"If you know it all so well then you tell me!" Bella responded angrily. "This is not me! I feel like I'm pmssing since I was turned! I either feel too much or I don't. And I don't try to sleep because whenever I do, I have such vivid nightmares about what the Volturi will do to me so yeah, tell me, Kol. Tell me what you can do to make me feel better!"

He let her rage for a few minutes and when she finally sat back down again, he spoke. "I should have told you about the emotional implications of turning. Everything is heightened and I believed you were handling things correctly."

"I nearly killed my class filled with kids because one wouldn't stop smacking his lips."

"Alright, so I can help you with your emotional control. I'm not the best in that myself, but that's because I'm lazy," Kol took a sip of his coffee. "And I think that for Christmas, you need to get out of New Orleans."

"I can't leave New Orleans, Kol."

"Of course you can," he smirked widely. "I'll be with you to protect you."

He could hear her let out a breath then. "Where are we going?"

"Volterra."

"No, absolutely not! You want me dead, don't you? Kol!"

And then there was panic, quite amusing, really. "No, darling, we're going to kill the Volturi. You and I. And then we're going to set the entire village on fire after we've eaten so many humans that we're well stuffed and high on blood. Or we could do it the other way around, I haven't figured that out yet."

"We can't kill them, Kol. They're the Volturi. Cold Ones are hard to kill."

"It's like punching through a wall, no big deal," he sat down next to her on the sofa and smiled. "So, what do you say? Want to go to Italy for Christmas?"

Bella threw her hands up in defeat. "Sure, why the hell not. If I'm going to die, then I'd rather die spectacularly."

Kol laughed at that. "Darling, your first death was already spectacular, it's merely a shame that you don't remember that. What you should do, however, is live spectacularly and I'm going to show you how. From this day forward, you shall not want for anything because I will give it to you. No job, no responsibilities."

Bella mockingly gasped at that. "You're not asking me to become your girlfriend now, are you? Wow, you have a night of sex with someone and… wow, I didn't think you were that needy, Kol Mikaelson."

"It's not me who's needy, darling, I'm merely keeping you out of trouble."

"We're going to Volterra to kill the Volturi, how much trouble is that!"

"I'm keeping YOU out of trouble but not US."

"Ah, I see," Bella grinned as she eyed him hungrily. "A quick fuck before we go?"

First class tickets to Italy. No expenses spared. Kol even decided to teach Bella a few tricks on the stewardesses and she seemed to enjoy being able to compel normal humans to do her bidding. Granted, the stewardess, Jackie, gave a pretty decent foot rub. Bella needed to start enjoying life as a free person and what better way to start with having some fun?

Bella didn't like blood, but he showed her how she could feed from humans without killing them. That Bella's blood now had a healing factor and that a single drop would heal the puncture wounds. That blood was a good thing and she looked so hot when she licked blood off of her fingers.

Oh, Kol was falling for her. He'd fallen for her even when he was still Kaleb, but he had Davina to worry about. And his mother. And his siblings. And his death. Kol knew that Bella had liked Kaleb, especially more than like seeing as she had wanted to ask him out, but that had been him. It was obvious that she wasn't feeling the same way about him, not now he wasn't Kaleb anymore. Did she like the other face better?

How could she resist a handsome face like his?

"Can I ask you something?" Kol asked as Bella knocked back a glass of whiskey. She nodded for an answer and eyed him curiously. "Perhaps it's silly of me to even ask, but as far as I know, you're the only person who's met the real Kaleb, then met me as him and then it was just me."

"I guess."

"Which Kaleb did you like best?"

Bella let out a chuckle. "Oh, you want your ego flattered? Should I say that it was your version of him just so you'd feel better?"

"Don't be rude, darling."

Sighing, she relaxed in her chair and looked at the ceiling of the airplane. "I liked Kaleb. He was slightly peculiar in his ways, but he was kind. He sometimes tagged along with me to school to show the kids some magic tricks, but he was quite lonely. I don't think he knew anyone else in New Orleans, like me, so we sort of bonded over that." Bella smiled when she turned her face to him. "And then he disappeared and came back. And I was amazed by how he had found himself a girlfriend in such a short time. This Kaleb was mental and intriguing, but he worried me, too. Behind the smiling façade, I could see that he was feeling even more alone than he used to and that broke my heart. Nobody should feel like it's them versus the rest of the world, it's just not right."

"Was that the reason you ordered pastries and put them on my doorstep?"

She smiled at that. "Yes. Pastries make the world better. Especially those made in New Orleans. How is Davina, by the way?"

"She doesn't like me like this, which is insane because she's a witch and I'm an eternal fountain of magical knowledge. She could use me, but she doesn't like me like this," Kol replied solemnly. "And that's alright. In the beginning I was using her and I thought I felt something for her, but I don't."

"She brought you back from the dead, didn't she?"

He nodded. "And thought I'd be the same as before I died. But as a witch, as a human, I didn't have this blood lust, you know. I had more control over myself because nothing was heightened. I loved it."

"You still think that way?"

"Nah. Being a vampire has its perks," he smiled widely. "Like having endless fun. Travel the world but take years doing so. You don't age, so it's brilliant."

"Well, for what it's worth, I thought you two were a cute couple."

"Oh, please," he huffed. "She's a teenager and I haven't been one for a thousand years."

Bella let out a snort. "Must be a tiny dating pool for you then, if you think like that. Ever hooked up with a Cold One?"

"Ew."

"Really? They're all perfect! So beautiful, so frozen in their youth…"

"So cold and rock solid. No thanks. I prefer a warm body," Kol replied, slightly offended. "I can't believe you've even asked me that."

"You must have heard stranger questions before," Bella said playfully as she took another sip of her drink. "Although perhaps thinking you'd hook up with a Cold One could be classified as an insult."

"It is!"

"Well I'm sorry."

"Good!" He was well aware that she had managed to shift the focus to him, once again she wasn't talking about herself. But at least he had found out that she liked him better than Kaleb, so that was a plus. "I suppose I should be thanking you," he eventually said.

"Why?"

"Because with you hiding for the last few weeks, my brothers felt guilty and didn't dagger me for not finding Nik's artifact and for killing a Cullen, breaking Elijah's agreement with them."

"You…" she blinked at him in surprise. "You killed a Cullen?"

"I had to be in Forks anyway to talk to the shaman of the Quileute tribe, and I figured I'd kill them all but I was stopped from doing that."

"Why on Earth would you do that?!"

"Their continuous existence is weighing you down. You might say it doesn't, but everything about you is heightened now. So I figured that I'd kill the Cullens as a present for you."

"But they've left me alone. I only talk to Angela over Skype and Jasper only called me because he was worried because his mate was freaking out."

"Yes, and his mate would be freaking out if she hadn't kept an eye on you from afar," Kol pointed out. "They may have let you leave Forks and them, but that doesn't mean that they don't own your ass anymore, Bella, and you know that."

"But I'm not worried about them! They'd never do anything to harm me."

Kol smirked at that. "I remember you telling horror stories about how this Edward left you alone in the woods during a thunderstorm after telling you he was going to leave. Or what about that time when they celebrated your birthday? You got hurt."

"It was a misunderstanding."

"Was it? Or do you say that because your mind was so charmed by this family? What about that time you went to Volterra to stop Edward from exposing himself? Was that because you loved him or because you were manipulated to do that?"

"I was asked."

"Even now, you defend them while their influence has made your life hell. They deserve to die, Bella, because even now, they're hurting you. We're going after the Volturi now because yes, at this point they are the bigger threat but after that, you and I are going to Forks."

"Kol…"

"It was the Cullen's fault that you were exposed to their way of life. To what they are. It's their fault that the Volturi are after you now. What part of that is alright with you, Bella? It should made you angry."

"They don't deserve-"

"And even now, you're trying to make excuses for them. They've turned your best friend, Bella. Angela is no longer a human. They'll keep ruining people's lives until someone stops them."

"But you and your family aren't that clean cut, either! You can't possibly tell me that you've turned humans because it was fun or to use them."

"You're the first one I've turned in over 800 years. Everyone I've turned in the past is dead after I died the first time. My brothers might have made mistakes with choosing their sires and honestly, if some of them come out of the woodwork now, they'll make their lives miserable. Some humans were turned to help them escape a situation that wasn't good for them. I remember that my brothers, especially Niklaus, turned a handful of women and men in Spain to escape their oppressors. Some were turned by mistake or in a fit of drunken rage. Some hate his guts, but the main difference between our families is that we can actually control our vampires, they're fragile and not uncontrollable in their first year." Kol scolded her. "A large part of the vampires in New Orleans were made by Marcel, a child Niklaus rescued from slavery and raised as his own, but the vampires we've created? As a family? Their lives are better than they were."

"So why me?"

"I told you, Bella, I found you interesting and wanted to see what my blood would do to you and your shield. After your death and resurrection, I thought long and hard about how I was going to handle it, but you're my responsibility and I gave you a choice. Because you deserve to rid yourself of your past as well and live a healthy, full life with no cares in the world."

Bella scowled then. "I don't want to be anyone's responsibility, Kol. Why do you think I went so far in hiding from your brothers? You made me their responsibility while you were out of town. I'm responsible for myself. The choices I make are my own."

"But you wouldn't have been in that position if it weren't for me dosing your food with my blood."

"You know what it sounds like? To be responsible for someone? As if that person can't take care of themselves. I've been responsible for my mother and my father, I've been their babysitter. I don't want to be babysat, Kol. I'm not a child."

He was quiet for a moment then as he searched for the right words. "Very well. If you're so big on choices and that being your own responsibility, then you're right. You're absolutely right."

"Good."

"You asked me if I wanted you to be my girlfriend and the answer is no, I do not. The whole idea behind the term 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' is juvenile. The terms are overused. Outdated and the ideology behind them is nothing of equality," Kol started as he looked at her. "I reject the idea of mates, because not only is that a reminder for you to your experience with the Cold Ones, it's also as if we're animals. We're not. We're certainly not thrown together by nature. I don't wish for you to be my girlfriend or mate. I wish for you to be my partner in every sense of the word. Equal. Everything I've never done, I want to do with you. Together. I want you to be my partner in the worst and best ways possible. You don't have to give me an answer now, but this is where I stand. This is the choice I'm making; I'm choosing you. You could likely give me hell for the rest of our lives, but that's my responsibility because I choose you and asked you to be mine."

"You don't even know me."

"I know you well enough. Now think of what I've said and give me an answer before we leave Italy," he said playfully as he got up from his chair. "I'm going to find a stewardess or passenger to snack on."

Bella's silence for the rest of the flight was agonizing. Kol had never bared his soul like that to a girl before and he was anxious; she could still reject him. What would he do if she'd reject him? Oh, this was going to be a gamble, but she truly was special and he wanted her to be his. He hoped that her silence meant that she was thinking about his proposal and nothing else. But the wait was long. When was she going to tell him her answer?


	3. Chapter 3

Upon their arrival in Rome, he suggested they'd go to a hotel and rest up, they hadn't slept for quite some time and he wanted the both of them to be well rested before they'd make the trip to Volterra and kill them all. Bella merely nodded as she followed him. Kol had sent Niklaus a text message to say if it was alright for him and Bella to stay at their house in Ladispoli, a mere 25 minutes away from the airport. It was now used as a luxury hotel for some income, but their waterfront home was amazing.

He wasn't quite sure if this hotel was seasonal or not, it was likely that they had closed for the winter, but seeing as they owned it, staff had to be there.

Nik sent him a message back that it was sorted, and Kol couldn't be happier. He rented a car and started the drive to the home. "We're going to a hotel that's been in our family for hundreds of years," Kol explained. "It's on the waterfront and it's absolutely beautiful. Elijah allowed J. Paul Getty to buy it when he moved to Europe and had him pay for the extensive reworking of the old post office into the glorious building that it is now. After Getty moved back to America in the 1970s, well… we bought it back."

"No way, J. Paul Getty? THE Paul Getty? American Industrialist, founder of Getty Oil and at some point the richest American? In 1973 his grandson was kidnapped when he was in Rome and Getty famously negotiated the ransom money. Instead of paying the requested 17 million dollars, he only had to pay like 3 million."

Kol laughed and nodded. "Yes, that Paul Getty." Of course, history would get her excited.

"But he was so frugal! Did he really transform it all that much? That must have cost a lot of money!"

"It was easier to turn it into a hotel after he reworked it all, yes," Kol smirked. "The hotel has a lot of ancient art, antiquities and tapestries but I think you'll get a kick out of the museum that's present there; everything found during the excavation for the pool has been splayed out there. I haven't been back in years, but it's quite impressive."

Kol briefly looked over to her and found her staring at him in disbelief. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied casually. "Sometimes I forget that you and your family have lived so long that you've actually seen history being made. You lived it."

"We actually had a hand in some historical events, but trust me, it's not like we sought it out," Kol smiled at her before focusing back on the road. "For example, I wished I was in New York on December 8th, 1980, so I could either witness or stop the assassination of John Lennon. The Beatles made such great music and his solo work wasn't that bad, either. I've never had the opportunity to see the Beatles perform though, for I was daggered for the largest part of the 20th century. Nik remembers that day as a sad day for art in general. He respected John Lennon as an artist."

"Still, you've lived through the history I've been trying to teach my kids."

He let out a chuckle. "I am not going to come to school with you and do your job."

"Aw, come on!"

"You could always quit."

"I did because I started to see those kids as my meal, but I kinda need a job, don't I?"

"What for? I already told you that you don't have to work, no responsibilities, just live your life. No worries about money because we certainly have enough." He turned into the road leading to the house. The villa was situated in a nature reserve and it looked out over the sea, but the surrounding area was just perfect to hide out. For privacy. For nice walks or for runs. Just to see how much of a nerd-out Bella was going to have, he took the detour and decided to pass the castle on their way to the villa.

"Holy crap!"

"What?"

"That castle!"

"Oh, that old thing? That's Elijah's doing. Hideous," Kol said, scrunching his nose. "Built somewhere in the 15th century when he and Niklaus were masking as members of one of the papal families at the time, or both or at least gained a reputation in those families to influence them to build it. It was set up as a home and as a military base, in case dear old Dad would show up. Castles were the thing to have in that time."

"A castle, seriously?"

"Elijah likes to make sure everyone knows how wealthy we are. He likes to say how Niklaus has a flair for the dramatic, but…" he thumbed over his shoulder. "Our castles are mainly Elijah's fault."

"And what's Klaus' fault then?"

"Buildings such as the mansions, villas… the compound…"

"And your fault?"

Kol shrugged. "Mostly the main reasons why we had to leave all those places for drawing too much attention to us with my feeding and party habits."

Bella let out a snort. "Partying sounds great."

"Haven't you had enough party time for the last three weeks?" He drove up to the driveway of the villa, through the well kept garden and he saw Bella getting even more excited by the second. He liked this property as it was private and secluded, just like the castle. It surely was a plus that it was situated on a natural reserve.

Bella smirked as she looked at him for a moment before looking back out of the window. "Nah!"

The outside of the building didn't look that exciting, it were two squares and a rectangle in the middle connecting them all, but it was well kept. No, it was the inside that mattered. And not even that, they were merely here to get some rest before they'd go to Volterra to slaughter the Volturi. But to see Bella so excited for something made him feel all warm and fuzzy. He hadn't felt like that in a very long time.

He parked the car and helped her out before escorting her inside. "But it's nice though? You love history and now you can live forever, living history."

"It still feels too much like the present to me," Bella smiled at him as she looked around, astounded by the interior. "And you do know that you don't have to flaunt your wealth with me to like you, right?"

"I'm not," Kol shrugged. "I can't help it that my family is extremely comfortable with properties near major cities all over the world, do you see me splurging money? No. That's Rebekah's thing. We're comfortable, that's all. No need for wanting something we can't have because we can have it all."

"Buena Sera!" They were greeted by a lovely young Italian woman with the biggest smile on her face. "Come sta?"

"Bene. E Lei?" Kol smiled. "My apologies, my Italian is quite rusty. My brother Niklaus Mikaelson called ahead?"

"Oh yes! Of course! We have the Getty suite and the Medici suite ready for you and your companion, Mr. Mikaelson," she replied as she retrieved the keys. "Do you have any luggage?"

"No, we're travelling light."

The girl nodded. "Bueno. Please, if you'd follow me, I'll show you your rooms."

"Wait. Did you say 'rooms'?" Bella asked the young woman. "We're only going to need one."

"Bella," Kol smiled at her. "It's alright. We own this place, we don't have to pay for anything."

"We only need one room," Bella said again, looking up at Kol. "Because the other one will be unused."

He ran a hand through his hair. "We're not-"

"We are," Bella nodded as they kept following the young woman. "You said you chose me to be your partner in every way possible and I agree with that."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, that I choose to be your partner, too."

A huge smile appeared on his face before he took the keys from the young woman. "I know where the suites are, thank you for your service," he said as he picked Bella up and rushed to the Getty suite and didn't even give her the chance to look around; Kol put her down on the bed and kissed her, hard. "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

"Shut up and kiss me," she replied as she yanked him down again and continued the kiss as the fabric of his shirt ripped by the sheer force she was using.

As the kiss grew in intensity, her shirt was ripped too, her pants followed and so did his. In the midst of their shredded clothes, they brought each other to new heights as they took turns in him pounding her and her riding him.

It was hours later when she was laying in his arms and let out a giggle after a long silence where they both basked in their post-coitus bliss.

"What?"

"We don't have anything to wear now," she dangled her bra in front of his face. It was snapped in half.

"Oh, I don't mind walking around naked, darling," Kol grinned as he snatched the bra out of her hands and flung it across the room. "It might give us the upper hand over the Volturi too!"

"We're going to need clothes, Kol," Bella replied as she lazily traced his bicep with her finger.

"Let's worry about clothes tomorrow," he answered. "We really need some rest."

Bella hummed as she slid down the mattress and kissed his cock, immediately waking it again for another round. She made a delighted noise as she shifted so she had better access to him and started to suck him. Of course, Bella was more rested than he was after he had her sleep off the magic herbs and alcohol, and he had to hand it to her, she was quite gifted in sucking him.

"Minx," he snorted as he buried his hands in her hair. Oh, his body was such a whore.

They slept until very late the following day, had some delicious food in bed and then requested a personal shopper who'd go into Rome to buy them new clothes. In the meantime they had a nice, long bath followed by some wrestling. Well, Kol was trying to show Bella some moves that she could use on the Volturi and they ended up wrestling. On the bed. As it turned out, a cop's daughter didn't need lessons in self defense.

Their new clothes came and Bella asked him if they could come back here after they had dealt with the Volturi; she wanted to try everything. The indoor pool, the spa, maybe a cooking class and of course, she wanted to visit the museum. Kol agreed that they had to come back; he figured it had been awhile since he'd seen Bella this passionate about something. The building might be old to him, she certainly seemed to like it very much.

Then again, Italy was a great country in itself. Maybe he could persuade her to stay longer and visit Rome. Naples. Do a horseriding trail to Mount Vesuvius and visit Pompeii. Delve into the history of everything. They had all the time in the world. As long as she was happy, he'd be.

They drove for nearly four hours along the beautiful scenic Italian coast towards Volterra and he could tell that Bella was getting anxious. "You have nothing to worry about, darling," he said as he started on the narrow and winding road up the hill. "You know all their weaknesses and how to exploit them, this is going to be easy. We'll be back at the house before you know it."

"They're ancient vampires, Kol."

"Yes, but unlike us, Cold Ones tend to get weaker with age. We only get stronger. We have nothing to worry about when it comes to their kings, and I can handle their guard for the most part if I take down the terror twins first. The power of the Volturi are lies in their words, not their strength."

"Jane doesn't affect me."

"I figured as much," Kol smiled at her. "It's the whole reason I dosed your food to see if I could penetrate that mental shield of yours."

"You can penetrate me whenever you want," she smirked.

"Bella!" Kol whined as he tightly gripped the steering wheel. "No distractions, we have a job to do and this road is treacherous. Don't do this to me."

"Do what?" she said innocently.

"What's fascinating is that that shield of yours carried over to your new existence," he continued as he kept his eyes fixed on the road. "That makes you a hybrid, Bella, that makes you very powerful. Even as a new vampire you won't have any trouble with taking them down."

"A hybrid? You make me sound like I'm a car."

He laughed at that. "A good car!"

She shook her head, laughing. "Well, you can drive me any time you want."

"Bella!"

Kol parked the car in front of the church and they had no trouble finding their way to the inner sanctum where the Volturi held residence. Kol took out the secretary and the two guards guarding the door before walking in with a pleasant look on his face. Bella was behind him, he knew that, but that was alright. He knew where she was, it wasn't as if she was invisible.

"Mr. Mikaelson, I wasn't aware that we had an appointment," Aro spoke as he rose from his seat and motioned for his guard to protect them. "And I see you brought Ms. Swan, how fascinating."

"Something's changed," Demetri said as he stepped forward, protective over his leaders. "She's not the same, but she's not one of us."

"Ah, the Cullens are still failing then," Marcus replied playfully. "It seems like your toys are still incapable of following your rules, dear Aro."

Kol noticed more of the guard pouring into the room and he smirked. They were going to make it easy for him and Bella to kill them all. "Bella, do you remember what I taught you on the way over?" He spoke calmly, keeping an eye on Aro. The leader of the Volturi was like a child, always wanting to have control over everyone, wanting to know everything. Kol was curious to how he was going to react.

"Uhuh…"

"And do you remember what I told you in the car just now?"

"Uhuh…"

"Try the first on Jane, something with her power. If that works, go for Alec and Felix."

"What's your plan, young Mikaelson?" Aro asked curiously as he extended his hand to him. "Please, let me see."

Bella hesitantly made her way over to Jane. Kol could see the corners of her lips curl up when Jane tried to use her powers on her. "I want you to use your powers on the rest of the guard," Bella told her. "Do you understand?"

"Don't make me do that."

"I am making you do that. Use your powers on the rest of the guard or destroy yourself."

Soon enough, most of the guard were brought to their knees and Bella told Alex and Felix to have a blast killing the guard. Aro was panicking. Caius was on his way to the door and Marcus just sat in his chair, watching in fascination.

"You see, Aro, Bella's one of ours now. I brought her here so she could get even with you for destroying her life, for making her live in fear after she left the Cullens. To end her nightmare."

"You're not supposed to be able to compel us!"

Kol opened his mouth to say something but he could feel someone break into his mind, filling it with hatred towards Bella and he was struggling to push that person out. He only snapped out of it when Bella touched him, he could feel her mental shield extending to him, enveloping like a warm blanket.

It was then that he saw Felix rush over to a Cold One standing behind Marcus and tear her apart.

"That's Chelsea," Bella explained. "She can increase and decrease the emotional ties between people."

"Oh," Marcus sighed happily once Chelsea was destroyed completely. "Thank you, Bella, for freeing me of my bonds." He then reached out to Demetri and snapped him in half. "You have no idea how good that feels."

"He can live," Bella pointed at Marcus, smiling widely. "This is fun, Kol. Who knew that I could compel Cold Ones? Do you have any idea what I could do to the Cullens!"

"I can only imagine, darling," Kol smiled proudly at her. "Look at the mess you've made, isn't it fun?"

"It sure is," Bella grinned before she zoomed over to Felix and instructed him to rip apart Alec and Jane. "It's also nice to have a bulldozer by my command… can we keep him?"

"Felix?"

"Yes. He'll be our personal guard."

"Even against Niklaus when needed?"

Bella shrugged. "Whatever. Against anyone who would stand in our way or will want to hurt us."

Oh, she was wicked. He liked it. "But he sparkles in the sunlight. As much as I like your idea, I don't see how we can make it work," Kol pointed out. He loved the idea, truly, but the downside of Cold One as a pet was that you couldn't take them anywhere without a dedicated witch. Of course, they could always put him in storage somewhere until they had found a witch who was willing to work for him and Bella. But how were they going to bring Felix to the States? No, it wasn't going to work. "Darling, would you like the honors?" He asked as he watched Marcus lazily get up to get Caius and destroy him, too. Caius was still frantically trying to open the door and in his panic had forgotten that the doors opened to the outside and with him pulling the doors, he couldn't actually escape. Idiot.

Aro just looked around in sheer panic. "How are you going to explain this to your brothers?"

"Easy; Bella came, Bella made your guard turn on themselves, Bella conquered. You see, Aro, they don't particularly fancy you either, but wouldn't do anything to harm the agreement you have amongst yourselves. I'm not diplomatic. I like to remove the problems. You were Bella's problem, and now we've solved it."

"Again, this doesn't explain how you're going to explain this act of war to your brothers."

"I don't have to. Niklaus is enamoured by Bella and he'll applaud her for this. Why should we be allowed to end our problems and she shouldn't?"

"Enough already," Bella sighed tiredly. "As much as I would love to kill Aro, I don't particularly like to kill. And you can't kill him either, Kol." She then turned to Marcus. "But Marcus… he deserves this kill and I bet I won't even have to compel him."

Before she was even done speaking, Marcus flew across the space with parts of Caius in his hands and lunged himself at his former friend. The energy that came loose of that happening knocked Kol and Bella back and they landed on their asses, laughing. They watched as Marcus tore into Aro with so much hatred and passion that it was frightening. He then proceeded to kill Felix.

Marcus straightened himself up and looked at Bella. "Thank you, for ending my torment and giving me the opportunity to get revenge."

"You're welcome," she smiled at him. "What are you going to do next?"

"I shouldn't be here, Bella," he replied solemnly. "After Aro killed my wife, all I wanted was to destroy myself and him. I miss her greatly and I believe it's time for me to join her."

"Are you sure?"

"I'll remain here to see them all destroyed for good. The citizens of Volterra will not like what I'm about to do, but it is for the best," Marcus replied kindly. "Now go, you've done a lot of good today."

"Wait a minute, darling," Kol said as he looked at Marcus. "Without the Volturi, your kind will be rudderless. How about you stay behind and make a new council? One that's fair and more liberal? And once you're confident that they will rule to your liking, you could always decide to end yourself."

"Just don't go for a Cullen or anyone friendly with them," Bella suggested. "Because if you do, you'll be in a world of hurt."

Marcus sighed as he looked around the venom leaking bodies in the room. "I suppose I could do that… A softer approach, a softer rule and less imposing?"

"But with just the right amount of menace to keep them in check, we do not want an epidemic of Cold Ones."

"Of course not," Marcus smiled as he turned to Bella and Kol with renewed energy in his posture and eyes. "Very well. I shall ensure the burning of the vampires slain here and I shall lead us to a new dawn."

Bella smiled as she stepped over the bodies and started to drag the pieces of Felix back together. She picked up his head from the floor while avoiding the dripping venom and smiled at him. "You're going to be loyal to Marcus from now on. You will protect him from harm and you shall do as he says." She then gently placed his head against his neck and already saw how the process of getting back together was working. "He'll need some time to get better," she said to Marcus, an apologetic smile on her face. "Anyone else you wish to keep?"

Marcus thought for a moment. "I know you said you didn't want a Cullen as a Volturi, what about as a member of the guard?"

"Depends on who you have in mind. I do not want to give you someone with a gift."

Marcus smiled deviously then. "I'm not sure if you'll be going after them as well, but you should for what they've put you through. It would greatly satisfy me to have Carlisle Cullen as my personal slave."

Bella let out a snort. "Sure, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Bella."

"Thank you Marcus."

They left the church in silence, but when they were at the car, Bella turned to Kol with a big grin on her face. "That was awesome."

"That certainly was," he laughed as he leaned against the car. "Look at all that power you have! We should test it on a regular vampire next, I mean, I can compel regular vampires but you… well, you're something special alright!"

Bella shrugged. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Kol," she said as she softly kissed him. "I already feel a lot better knowing that the Volturi will leave me alone."

"You're very welcome."

"So Brain, what are we going to do next?"

"Same as we try every day, Pinky, take over the world," Kol grinned and softly kissed her.

"Seriously? And here I thought that we'd go back to La Posta and fuck each other's brains out."

"Well, then there's _that_."

"An offer you can't refuse," Bella smirked. "Who knows? I might be impatient and get all Italian on you while you're driving."

"What?"

She winked at him before she got into the car and strapped herself in. "Fellatio."

They spent an entire week, and thus Christmas, in the villa in Italy, Bella wanting to see everything remotely historical of the area before sightseeing in Rome and headed back to the United States. But not to New Orleans. No, after what she'd done with the Volturi, she realized that she could get her revenge peacefully and she wanted to go after the Cullens next, mainly because she couldn't wait to get that fresh start in life with Kol.

He couldn't be more in awe and proud of her. Sure, Nik was likely going to be pissed with them for having missed Christmas, but then again, it was Kol and Rebekah who valued the time together as a family the most. Nik didn't even like their tradition of burning wishes. Kol loved seeing the playful side of Bella, it was a lot more fun than the emotionally unbalanced Bella and he was glad that she had made a lot of progress in their time together.

Kol was slightly concerned about how she'd respond to the Cullens. After all, they had been like family to her and even though it'd been years since she'd seen them, it could hurt her. And the nightmare started the moment she turned on her phone after landing in Seattle.

"Hey Jazz," she answered as she put it on speaker. "What's up?"

" _Well, not to disturb you or anything, but it seems that the Mikaelsons have eliminated the Volturi."_

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at Kol. "Really? The Mikaelsons? Are you sure? Because last time I checked, Klaus and Elijah were still in New Orleans with their sisters and Kol's been with me here in North Dakota."

" _What are you doing in North Dakota? There's nothing there!"_

"Sex in the woods, Jazz. It's amazing."

" _There are woods in New Orleans!"_

"With Klaus' psycho ex running around there in wolf form. No thanks. I don't want to be eaten," she deadpanned. "Besides, the Volturi are gone now, right? I should be safe."

" _It doesn't make any sense, if it's all true what you're saying, and I don't say it is, then Marcus is lying, which also doesn't make any sense because he's such a pacifist and he'd never hurt anyone."_

"I don't care, not my problem. Why are you telling me all this?"

" _Alice fears that we are next. Now that you're under the Mikaelson's protection and all… Kol already killed Rosalie, Emmett's inconsolable despite him being mated with Angela now."_

"Oh, Jazz," Bella sighed. " _You_ have nothing to worry about."

" _Are you sure?"_

"Yes, I'm sure. Like I said, Kol's with me in North Dakota and the rest of the Mikaelsons aren't interested in messing with politics."

"Well, Elijah maybe, darling," Kol purred. "But then again, he forged the agreement with Carlisle that he was going to leave them alone and vice versa."

"Right. See, Jazz? Nothing to worry about."

" _I know you're not obliged to tell me anything, Bella, but should they come for my family, will you give me a heads up?"_

She smirked and suppressed a giggle. "Yes, I will literally give you a heads up. Now can I go and have wild monkey sex with Kol now?"

" _You do know that he killed Rosalie, don't you? He must have killed thousands of people."_

"What's your point? You told me to trust them and make them protect me."

" _I didn't say anything about sexual relations, Bella," Jasper chided her. "He's dangerous."_

"Goodbye, Jazz, North Dakota is calling me!" She disconnected the call and smirked at Kol. "I'm going to give him a literal heads up."

"I don't expect anything less," he laughed as he put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Let's get us a car and deal with the Cullens. Maybe after we could go and visit your dad and spend New Year's Eve with him."

"Is that even okay? I mean, I'm dead, aren't I?"

"Are you?" Kol smiled at her. "Sure, you died in an accident but the only ones who know about it is us. To your father and the rest of the world, you're still alive. There's no death certificate which means that we'll likely have to stage your death at some point but you have like… what? 10 to 15 years before he starts questioning why you don't age?"

"I guess?"

"Well then, no harm in celebrating the new year with your father."

"I haven't been home ever since I left, Kol," Bella said quietly. "What if it's okay like this? What if I don't feel like I have to go home? Both my parents have been selfish, Charlie's alright by himself for the most part and I felt that nothing had changed when I moved back apart from the fact that I traded in my mom for my dad. It's not like he's come down to visit me, either."

He kissed the top of her head before letting her go to get a car. When he returned, he smiled at her. "Fine, no visiting relatives if you don't feel like it. Although I would really love it, you know, for you to introduce me to your dad, seeing as we're partners and all."

She snorted. "I never fancied you to be a traditionalist."

Kol shrugged. "Are there any hotels in Forks we can stay at?"

"Yes, but I'll probably be recognized and dad will be alerted…" she let out a deep breath. "Can't we just go and round up the Cullens and leave? We've dozed on the plane. The Cullens don't need sleep, they don't sleep at all, and we can do without sleep too."

"Whatever you wish, darling," Kol smirked as they walked to the parking garage to get their rental car. "It's your party."

"Damn right."

They drove straight to Forks, a 4 hour drive from the airport in Seattle and the roads were slippery due to the ice and snow. Not that it mattered, if anything they could run their way to Forks through the forest and all, but it was cold and even vampires wanted some comfort. The car parked out of ear shot of the Cullens and they quietly made their way to the house, Bella leading the way. "Hey, Bella?" Kol whispered. "What of those wolves?"

"They'll be damn grateful for us doing their job for them," she whispered back. "They're the worst magical beings, ever. They couldn't even take down one nomad!"

"Want to hit them next?"

"Hell yes," she grinned. "Or just set fire to their entire reservation, that would work just fine, too."

"It's the middle of winter, darling."

"Fine, we'll paint it red then."

They stopped in the clearing and looked at the house. "It's atrocious," Kol sneered softly. "You sparkle in daylight and have windows like that?"

"It actually reflects the sunlight back, it doesn't hit them in the house," Bella commented as she strained to look at something before a wide grin appeared on her face. "Follow me," she softly kissed him before speeding off and tackling the matron of the Cullen family to the ground. "Shut up and don't move," she compelled her as Bella dragged Esme into the more shielded part of the garden.

"Darling, I admire your agility," Kol said proudly. "Your stealthiness and how you embraced being one of us."

"Aww!" Bella cooed as she kissed him. "I love you too, partner! Now please, rip off her head so we can give the Major his heads up."

Kol chuckled darkly. He realized that without his knowledge, Bella had turned off her emotions but was still a capable vampire. Something new vampires struggled with, but she was a natural and she was beautiful. It was a good thing that she had done, this way Jasper couldn't influence her the way everyone else would be influenced; Kol could fight him off on his own merit.

He did as he was told before Bella lit a few matches and threw them on Esme's body. The Cold One was still happily blissed out by Bella's compulsion, although she had a look of horror on her face as he handed the head to Bella.

Bella made sure that Esme looked presentable with her hair pushed out of her face before heading up to the house and politely knocked on the door, hiding Esme's head behind her. Carlisle opened the door in surprise and before he could speak up, Bella compelled him to call for Jasper.

"Hi!" Bella greeted him as she threw Esme's head at him. "Heads up!"

"Bella? No, you said you were in North Dakota, you can't do this." Jasper said, flabbergasted and shocked at the head he was holding in his hands. "You didn't have to do this."

"We flew over North Dakota on our way here, I wasn't lying that I was in North Dakota."

"You can't come in."

"Are you sure about that?" Bella said playfully as she took a step closer to the house. "Surely you've been smart enough to put the house into a human's name…"

"We have…"

"And then you freaks turned her," she smirked as she set foot inside the hallway. "Surprise, assholes," Bella announced when the rest of the family piled into the hallway to see what the commotion was. "Hi Ange!" She grinned widely. "Guess what? I have plans for all of you!"

Emmett charged at Kol who was fast enough to get him into a headlock, facing Bella. "Oh, Emmett… you're not going to fight us, instead, you're going to fight for us. Have a go at Carlisle."

Emmett flung himself at his father while Alice tried to attack Bella. Bella punched Alice in the face and pushed her onto the ground. "You're going to stay there until I have time for you, missy."

Oh yes, Bella being all dominant was doing it for Kol. She was so hot. So in control and so very much enjoying herself with her puppets, making him wonder if getting rid of these toys would be a good thing. She could take them back home and make them do things for them. Like being a statue or bodyguards or whatever.

"Jasper, last chance. Either stay or run away," Bella warned him as she watched how Emmett was tearing off Carlisle's arms. "Edward, be a doll and kill Emmett for me."

"Bella, I don't-"

"You have no choice, Edward," she reminded him. "Either he kills you or you kill him, it's that simple, but nobody is allowed to walk out of this house," Bella said before taking Kol's hand and took him to the kitchen. "I'm hungry, let's see what they have in the kitchen. Likely only popcorn or something, they don't eat."

Kol couldn't believe the sight in front of him and pulled out his phone to record a video of this to send to Niklaus, who would certainly approve of this. Bella had turned her back on the Cold Ones who were tearing each other apart, with the tiny one lying on the ground like she was a stepstool. The Major looked like a lost puppy, Kol could have sworn to see the cog wheels in his head work overtime to see how he was going to fix all this. Kol laughed when Carlisle's head finally popped off and was thrown at Jasper.

"Ah! They have something edible!" Bella cried out happily as she pulled out some steaks out of the freezer and started to cook them on the stove. "Oh, Ange?" she called out to her former friend. "Could you come over here please?" She didn't need compulsion for her, Angela was freaked out of her mind enough not to move a muscle.

"Bella…" she replied hesitantly as she walked over. "You need to stop this, please."

"Nah, too late," Bella shrugged as she turned to her friend. "See that fire in the garden? That's Esme burning. I want you to throw yourself onto that fire and die."

"Bella!"

"Do as I say or I'll make you do it," Bella said angrily. "I warned you about the Cullens but you wouldn't listen. Now it's time to face the consequences."

"I hate you!"

Bella smirked then, pulling Angela back. "See, I wanted to be nice to you, since we were friends and all…" she sighed as she shook her head. "Oh well. I want you to undress yourself," she compelled her. "Like the whore that you are. When you're completely naked, I want you to cross the treaty line to get those mutts out of the woods and lure them back here. Once you've done that, you're going to join Esme's fire." Bella then turned back to her steaks, flipping them over while Angela undressed herself and ran off.

"Niklaus approves, darling," Kol said as he showed her the text message that his brother sent back to him. "He's only disappointed that he can't join in on the fun."

"I'm sure we'll find something to do that he can join in on," Bella replied with a smile and then sighed happily as she listened to the sound of Edward and Emmett fighting in the hallway. "I know it's wrong of me, but this feels so good, you know. You were right. I think that after this, I'm going to be able to be so incredibly happy."

"Of course I was right, darling," he smiled widely. "Nothing soothes the soul better than a good massacre."

"There's a baseball bat in the garage if you feel like joining in," she added as she put the steaks on a plate and handed him cutlery before tucking into a steak herself. "Hmm… premium cow. Nothing but the best."

"I'm not sure what you did to those steaks but they smell horrendous," Kol said as he scrunched his nose in disgust. "Like… wet dogs or something."

"The puppies have arrived!" Bella squealed as she saw Angela dive onto the flames in the garden and flap around as if she was a fish on dry land as the fire consumed her. She took her plate to the hallway and saw them all lined up on the driveway, looking at what was going on in the hallway with confused looks on their faces. "Oh, look, they're tilting their heads!" She took a bite of her steak and waved at them. "Hi guys!" She turned around when she heard something pop and was just in time to see Edward's body drop to the floor. "Oh, well done, Emmett!" she cheered.

"So, which one kept coming after you, Bella?" Kol asked politely as he joined her at the door.

"The russett one," Bella pointed at Jacob.

"Oh, mate, are you in the dog house now," Kol said as his vampire visage bled out and he lunged for him.

Bella giggled as she leaned against the doorpost, happily finishing her steak as she watched her man deal with Jacob. Like her, Kol wasn't much of a fighter, but damn, he was so hot. The way he moved out of the way of Jacob's teeth, the way he broke Jake's back and how majestically the blood squirted from Jake's neck when Kol ripped it off his torso like it was nothing. Her partner made quite a spectacle out of it and she loved it.

"God, I'm so turned on right now," she said breathlessly before turning to Emmett. "Go kill the pups, mommy and daddy are going to defoul the shag carpet in the living room."

"Bella, I will not let you do this!"

"Jasper!" Bella smirked. "Still here! Well, you've had your chance. Go join Emmett in slaughtering the puppies, just leave Seth alone, okay? He's very innocent and adorable and he doesn't deserve to die," she pat Jasper on his shoulder before taking Kol's hand and dragged him off to the living room to have sex.

The soundtrack to their lovemaking was enticing. Grunts and whelps mixed in with the noises she and Kol made as they rolled over the floor, fighting for dominance over each other. Kol telling her that she was his kind of crazy; the right kind, with her emotions turned off and then she surprised him by saying that she hadn't turned them off. She had merely stopped giving a fuck and was having fun with the lack of control and predictability that it brought along with that.

They both came hard when the last shifter wolf fell to the ground outside.

While getting dressed, she instructed Jasper to take down Emmett while having Emmett allow Jasper to get him killed and once that was done, she happily looked around and oversaw the destruction. "Oh, this is just fabulous," she said as she kissed Kol. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied with a smile before pointing at Jasper and Alice. "What of those two, darling?"

"Well, Klaus wants an army, right? Who's better in the position to train his vampires than the God of War himself? I mean, if I can compel him, then Klaus certainly will be able to, too, right?"

"I'm not too sure about that, but I think he will appreciate the sentiment," he replied.

"And Alice is going back where she belongs," Bella said as she helped the petite vampire up. "Dowager Fauline's Cottage, Asylum for the crazy witches. If I remember, you're familiar with it, yes?" She asked deviously as she looked up at him. "A vegetarian Vampire surrounded by flesh and blood witches."

"Well," Kol shrugged. "It certainly would help to deal with the overcrowding that's going on in that place."

"Exactly!"

"Well then, let's take our personal and subdued discoballs back to New Orleans and celebrate the New Year. Freya mentioned something about having arranged the best fireworks known to man."

When they all left the house, Bella turned around and lit a few matches to light the vampires on fire, allowing them to consume the entire building with their venom over time. By the time the fire would be seen from town, it would be too late.

It felt good, to become the nightmare instead of living in it. She didn't feel any remorse whatsoever, something the Cullens and the Volturi hadn't felt for mistreating her. She'd finally become what she had been destined to be.

An asskicking woman who knew no fear and with the best partner she could have ever wished for. Her life had been changed for the better and she couldn't wait to start it.

The End.


End file.
